You Need To Hear N.O.R.E.’s Story About The Time Michael Jordan Said ‘F*ck Rap’ At A Def Jam Party

Besides his being cool with Jay Z, Michael Jordan’s relationship with rap has always been a little tumultuous. There’s the legendary story of when he shut down Chamillionaire at a party, and who knows how many untold stories exist with the same message: Don’t talk to Mike and don’t you dare ask for a picture, especially if you’re a rapper.

Well, according to N.O.R.E., Cham wasn’t the only rapper to feel Mike’s wrath in this hilarious story he told to the Rap Radar Podcast. From N.O.R.E.’s recollection, Redman and Method Man once asked to merely speak with Mike at a Def Jam party, and were bluntly rebuffed by His Airness. At about the 64:45 mark of the podcast N.O.R.E. mentions how Mike reportedly told a group of rappers — and mainly Red and Meth — “F*ck rap” at a shindig the music label was hosting.

“Jordan is a hater of hip-hop. He only likes Hov. That’s it. That’s where it stops. It’s Hov and that’s it. I seen him shut Redman down at a Def Jam Christmas party. We were all sitting there waiting to speak to Michael Jordan. N****s said, ‘Yo, Redman and Method Man is here.’ [MJ] said, ‘F*ck rap.’ I seen the n**** say that. F*ck it, quote me. I believe it was Redman and Method Man, and I’m to the side, so I can directly hear his voice. He was like, ‘F*ck rap.’ I was like, that shit hurt me, yo. Def Jam Christmas party, Mariah Carey hosting and shit like that. He only spoke to Hov, but he spoke to Hov. That’s without a doubt.”

There’s much, much more to the podcast, including how N.O.R.E. only made $5,000 off The War Report and how a Nas feature on the album was nixed at the 11th hour. Check out the full two-hour podcast below or download on iTunes here.

Update: A rep for Jordan says Noreaga’s story is completely untrue, per a report by TMZ.

MJ’s rep, Estee Portnoy, says it’s just not true — telling TMZ Sports, “MJ wasn’t at this party, doesn’t know N.O.R.E., and is a fan of ALL music.”

She adds, “Drake is in his brand, and Nelly is a partner of his with the Charlotte Hornets.”

That was on Thursday during the day.

On late Thursday/Friday morning, N.O.R.E. casually rebutted their claims by posting a pic on Twitter, hoping to prove his story true.

But it has been common knowledge for awhile that Jordan was not really with Rap at it’s most burgeoning during his career. He was more into R&B, Jazz, Soul. AI was that basically that dude capping for Hip-Hop when he came into league (along with C-Webb, Jalen, and few others) to where the synergy grew to almost synonymous with one another (but that is a different conversation for a different day). Melvin Flynt did mention in that story that Jordan was cool with Jay but I always imagine this was more from a mutual appreciation of someone who was wiling to do whatever it took to ascend to the top of his respective field.

The funny thing about this story also is that I would imagine given that Drake has his own collection and given the Hip-Hop is now the preeminent genre of music (Pop is hard to qualify in it of itself) plus with his kids hipping him to what is popping these days, I could see Jordan rocking out to some hip-hop nowadays (ah la “JUMPMAN, JUMPAN, JUMPMAN I don’t need not introduction…..:)